The two graphs above pretty much speak for themselves in this regard. But, one major factor in the acceptance of both same-sex marriage and legal pot not readily apparent in the graphs is the effect the millennial generation is having on this trend.

There are nearly 80 million young folks born between 1982 and 1995 and they are overwhelmingly in favor of legalizing marijuana, just as they led the way in acceptance of same-sex marriage.

Age bias

“… if you were surprised at how quickly marriage equality happened, get ready for another shock: pot’s going to be legal too. The same demographic and cultural changes that propelled marriage equality to majority status are already pushing support for legal pot to the same place,” the Talking Points Memo pointed out in a story yesterday.

They’re not the biggest voting block and their attitudes may change over time, but 18-29 year olds came out in bigger numbers than in the 2008 election to make up 19 percent of voters and they’re not getting younger.

In all of the most recent polling, young people’s support for legal marijuana “is directly and inversely proportional to age, ranging from 62 percent approval among those 18 to 29 down to 31 percent among those 65 and older,” Gallup reports.

“The only group left that doesn’t support marijuana legalization by about 50 percent is the elderly,” Erik Altieri, a spokesman for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), told Talking Points.

Here’s the scoreboard for successes and ongoing efforts to legalize marijuana so far, as presented by NORML:

Alaska, Colorado, and Washington impose no criminal or civil penalty for the private possession of small amounts of marijuana.

Similar decriminalization legislation is pending this year in nearly a dozen additional states, including Hawaii, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, Texas, and Vermont.

Lawmakers in several other states, including Maine, Oregon, and Pennsylvania, are considering separate legislation to legalize the adult consumption of cannabis and regulate its retail production and sale.

The following states have passed laws decriminalizing marijuana. Typically, decriminalization means no prison time or criminal record for first-time possession of a small amount for personal consumption. The conduct is treated like a minor traffic violation

Alaska

California

Colorado

Connecticut

Maine

Massachusetts

Minnesota

Mississippi

Nebraska

Nevada

New York

North Carolina

Ohio

Conservatives mixed on pot

Peter Wehner, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and former appointee of former president George W. Bush, pleaded for his fellow conservatives to take a public stand against marijuana:

Drug legalization would … send an unmistakable signal to everyone, including the young: Drug use is not a big deal. We’re giving up. Have at it.

In taking a strong stand against drug use and legalization, Republicans would align themselves with parents, schools and communities in the great, urgent task of any civilization: protecting children and raising them to become responsible adults.

However, Talking Points reports its interview and the data show that marijuana legalization may have an even smoother passage to a legal part of American culture than same-sex marriage.

For one, its rise in popularity has been more consistent; and, two, legalization doesn’t appear to inspire the same automatic backlash among conservatives as gay marriage.

“Marijuana legalization fits into almost any ideology you can think of. That’s why you see these odd bedfellows supporting it, you know, Barney Frank and Ron Paul. It’s not a wedge issue anymore,” Altieri told Talking Points. “I think our arguments have done a little bit of a better job in appeal to financial conservatives and libertarians in a way that gay marriage hasn’t.”